Embers
by Aeli Kindara
Summary: This is the story of a childhood friendship that was destroyed by a house and a tattoo. This is the story of two brothers who abandoned each other for other allegiances, and left their friendship with a few smoldering embers in a darkened room.


**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and company belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, using the process of syllogism, I do not own Harry Potter and company.

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_This is the story of a childhood friendship that was destroyed by a house and a tattoo. This is the story of two brothers and two friends who abandoned each other for other allegiances, and left their friendship with a few smoldering embers in a darkened room._

Sirius stared in fury at his younger brother, standing across from him with his chin stubbornly stuck out and his lower lip protruding slightly, arms crossed defensively. "I don't care what you say, Sirius. I'm not giving in."

Sirius felt the overwhelming urge to grab his brother by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. He managed to suppress the urge, but his words were tight with anger. "You're such an _idiot,_ Regulus. Don't you realize what you're doing? What you're giving yourself up to?"

"Calm down, Sirius. All I've done is join the Dark Lord's special forces. A few duties now and then, maybe. It's not that big a deal."

"Not a big deal? How can you say that? Do you think this guy calls himself the _Dark Lord_ for no reason? Sure, he presents himself as a reformer who's willing to perhaps use a bit of violence to make a point if need be, but do you honestly believe that? This guy won't just get a couple of amendments passed and be done with it. He's a radical. He doesn't just want Muggle-borns out of the Ministry, he wants them out of our entire world."

"What's wrong with that?" Regulus asked coolly.

"What's _wrong_ with it?" Sirius exploded. "It might as well be bloody genocide, Regulus!"

His brother was caught off guard. "He's not going to — to _kill_ them, Sirius."

"Oh? Haven't you been reading the news?" He reached for a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that was lying on his bed next to _Advanced Transfiguration._ "Look. Mysterious killings of Muggles and Muggle-borns. There, and there, and there. This isn't just some _coincidence,_ Regulus. Your precious Dark Lord is behind it."

Regulus eyed the paper with distrust. "Where'd you get that? Isn't that the new liberal news source that publishes all that radical stuff? It isn't very reliable, is it? And how did you get it past Mother and Father?"

"_That's_ none of your business, but it's more reliable than the _Helios Herald_ ever was," Sirius replied, naming the old and respected pureblood newspaper. "I'll bet you anything your Dark Lord controls exactly what's reported there."

Regulus turned away. "You're being ridiculous, Sirius — seeing — seeing conspiracies everywhere, and that sort of thing."

Sirius laughed softly. "You don't even know what you're talking about, Regulus." He walked slowly toward his brother, who did not turn. Reaching out, he layed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Regulus stiffened beneath his touch but didn't move. "You haven't an idea what it is you're getting into, admit it. You're just doing this because Mother and Father wanted it. Free yourself of them, Regulus. Free yourself of the cloud they've placed over your vision."

Regulus wheeled suddenly to face Sirius, face flushed with anger. Two pairs of stormy gray eyes met, only inches apart. "Maybe it's you I need to break away from, Sirius. Maybe you're the one who's been holding me back all these years. Ever considered that? Ever considered, even for a _half second,_ that you might be _wrong?"_ He took a deep breath. "You're so _arrogant,_ you think that something must be right simply because you think it, and it's not true! Because I've finally seen clearly, past the barriers _you've _put up around me, and I know what I want! If you're going to stand in my way, Sirius, then you'll have to deal with it when I go right around you. You can't hold me back anymore."

Sirius took a few slow steps backward. "All right, then," he said, trying and failing to sound nochalant. "Fine. I see I have — I have no place here, now. Anymore." Reaching for the bed without looking away from Regulus, he fumbled to find _Advanced Transfiguration._ Abruptly tearing his eyes from his brother, he tossed the book into his trunk. He was suddenly in rapid motion, tearing around the room and throwing items into his trunk willy-nilly, as Regulus watched, paralyzed.

He stopped just as suddenly, chest heaving as he surveyed the now bare room.

"I'll be going, then," he said in a strained voice that was almost pleasant. The trunk's lid slammed shut beneath his hand. He reached down to take its handle and began to drag it to the door. It caught on the frame, and with a snarl of impatience, he drew his wand and waved it, causing the trunk to rise in the air and float in front of him out of the room and down the stairs.

Regulus stared after him for a moment, then broke into a run, taking the steps three at a time, not caring that his parents had strictly forbidden such unseemly behavior.

He burst into the darkened Drawing Room just as Sirius took a pinch of Floo powder from the ornately carved bowl on the mantel. Ignoring his brother, he dropped it deliberately into the fire he had already lit.

Green flames roared up, lighting Sirius's face eerily in the dark room. He reached for his trunk.

"Regulus, what are you —" came a voice from the doorway, which stopped abruptly as his mother saw Sirius.

The sixteen-year-old looked at them both one last time, his face twisted with anger and pain. "See you in hell," he snarled, then turned and yelled a name they couldn't hear as he stepped into the fire. The green flames engulfed him, and he was gone.

The two of them stood and stared for several moments. At last, Regulus's mother shook off her horrified trance. "Well," she sniffed, "that's that. Regulus, dear, come tell your father about the initiation today."

Regulus took one last look at the smoldering embers, then turned and followed his mother away.

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**A/N:** This piece can be thought of in the same "universe" as Chapter 7 (I think) of The Mark, in which Regulus dies. That is, I'd rather do, because then I can use embers flaring up again as cool symbology. I'm half-ashamed to say that this began as a weird experiment with Sirius/Regulus slash. (No, I can explain! I was looking through the Master Ship List at FictionAlley, and I felt that the name for the Sirius/Regulus ship, _Nature's Nobility, Cruise of the Damned,_ just was so good and apt that I felt like writing the pairing. But then I didn't. Unless you really want to interpret it that way. But the line "See you in hell" is a little bit of a bow toward _Cruise of the Damned._) Anyway, since it isn't actually slash and incest, you can feel perfectly happy reviewing a nice, clean piece. Right? 


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